Ash Meadow

Ash Meadow is a house, likely dating from around 1815 to 1820, with some earlier fabric. It was formerly a school and is now unoccupied. The construction is of painted stucco and roughcast render, probably on limestone rubble, with a Welsh slate roof.

The house has an irregular plan formed by three parallel ranges: a rectangular double-depth main range aligned east-west, built in front of an older portion and linked to it by a shorter range, with a glazed porch connecting the two. It is two storeys high with cellars beneath the main range. The north front is long and symmetrical, featuring three windows, and incorporates a plinth, a verandah that extends around both sides, and wooden modillioned eaves. The windows are unhorned sash windows on both floors, with exposed boxes. Ground floor windows are un-glazied, while those above have 12 panes. A slated verandah canopy is supported by slender cast iron columns, each with a simple ladder-like trellis forming 7 bays at the front, 7 to the left, and 6 to the right. Four symmetrically placed low chimney stacks with cornices are present.

The left-hand side, which serves as the entrance front, features a re-entrant angle bridged by a glazed roof, creating a glazed porch with an inner doorway framed by a moulded architrave, cornice, and consoles, and a door with six glazed panels. The flanking gables of the front and rear ranges have windows similar to those at the front, including a French window to the main range. An outbuilding with a mono-pitched roof projects from the rear corner of the rear range. The right-hand return wall displays three gables with a 2:1:1 window arrangement; the ground floor windows on either side are French windows with horizontal glazing bars, while the others are unhorned 12-pane sashes. All windows on both floors of the front range have internal shutters.

The rear range, which may be of 18th-century origin, has a large ridge chimney stack offset to the left of centre.

Inside, the rear range has been altered, but the front range retains many early 19th-century features. These include a central entrance hall containing an open-well staircase with delicate curvilinear cast-iron balusters and a ramped mahogany handrail, wreathed at the foot, and lit by an oval skylight with stained glass margin panes. The front rooms feature original moulded plaster cornices, each unique, and built-in office furnishings, including a broken-pedimented bookcase, disguised iron cupboards and safes flanking the doorway, and a semi-circular arched cast iron fireplace with a panelled surround.

The house was occupied by wealthy landowners until around 1918. It was subsequently used as a school and, more recently, as a Lakeland Training Centre.